4 Tips To Prevent Childhood Obesity
Childhood is very important for creating a healthy lifestyle and eating habits. In this article we will give you tips to prevent childhood obesity.
Childhood obesity is a serious health problem that is unfortunately becoming more and more common. It may be hard to believe, but in many of these cases, the parents are the cause of childhood obesity.
Today’s changes prevent tomorrow’s diseases
If you want to help your kids maintain a healthy weight, you need to balance the calories they consume with the calories they burn with exercise.
Keep in mind that the goal for overweight children is to reduce weight gain, while also allowing them to grow and develop healthily.
If you see that your child is gaining significant weight, it is time to see the pediatrician. In addition, you need to start adjusting his or her lifestyle.
This will reduce the risk of diseases such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. There is also less chance of psychological illnesses such as depression and low self-esteem.
The best advice to help prevent childhood obesity
Here is a list of the best tips to help prevent childhood obesity.
1. Encourage Healthy Eating Habits
- Get your kids used to eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and lean meats like chicken and fish for protein.
- Serve medium-sized portions.
- Encourage your kids to drink plenty of water throughout the day . If they drink a lot of water, they will feel fuller and therefore less likely to eat unhealthy food.
- Don’t give them too many sugary drinks and junk food.
Remember that small changes during childhood can lead to healthy eating habits. They will stick to this for the rest of their lives.
2. Keep Them Active to Prevent Childhood Obesity
Another way to prevent childhood obesity is by exercising and avoiding a sedentary lifestyle. While time for homework and reading is also good, you can limit the time they spend watching television, playing video games, or surfing the Internet.
Remember that, in addition to being fun for kids, regular exercise has many health benefits. For example, think of:
- strengthening bones
- maintain weight
- a heightened self-image
- reduction of stress and anxiety
Remember that children imitate adults, so maybe it’s time for you to exercise too, or better yet, exercise with your child.
3. Set a time limit with electronic devices
Now that there are so many devices, children would rather play video games at home than play with other children.
Encouraging an active lifestyle means spending as little time as possible on electronic devices. These eliminate the possibility of doing activities outside the home. Spending time with electronic devices such as the television is closely related to childhood obesity.
Limiting these sedentary activities encourages your children to engage in more productive activities that are beneficial to their health. When they are older they will have time to spend hours on the computer!
4. Don’t let children eat in front of the television
Finally, we recommend that you do not allow your children to watch television while eating. Besides the fact that this limits family time and communication is limited, your children will also not realize that their stomach is full.
This is because half of their attention is drawn to their favorite show on TV. Eating in front of the TV can also lead to indigestion and abdominal pain.
We also want you to remember that all family members should be involved in these changes regardless of their body weight so that no child has to feel left out.
Follow the tips in this article to prevent your child from gaining too much weight and getting used to an unhealthy lifestyle. All positive change starts with the will to do it.